Kepler determined that planets change their speed as they travel around the sun. This happens due to all of the following EXCEPT

Kepler determined that planets change their speed as they travel around the sun. This happens due to all of the following EXCEPT gravitational forces.

Kepler determined that planets change their speed as they travel around the sun due to all of the following reasons except one. The exception is the answer to your question. However, you did not provide answer choices. Could you please provide the answer choices so I can help you identify the correct option?

To determine the answer to this question, we can start by understanding Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Kepler's first law states that planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths, with the Sun at one of the foci of the ellipse. Kepler's second law, also known as the law of equal areas, states that a line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. Kepler's third law, also known as the harmonic law, states that the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of its average distance from the Sun.

Based on these laws, we can infer that planets change their speed as they travel around the Sun. This is because in the elliptical orbit, a planet will be closer to the Sun at some points and farther away at others. According to the law of equal areas, the planet will move faster when it is closer to the Sun (covering more area in a given time interval) and slower when it is farther away (covering less area in the same time interval). This variation in speed results in the planet changing its velocity as it moves along its orbit.

Now, coming back to the question, we are asked to identify the factor that does not cause planets to change their speed as they travel around the Sun. Given that Kepler's laws explain why planets change their speed, it would be incorrect to say that any of those laws are the reason planets do not change their speed. Therefore, the correct answer is that all of the given options are not the factors that cause planets to change their speed.